Having worked in the Financial Services industry with Bruno Muraca (now with AFRM Claims Advocacy) for many years. So I can appreciate how much time and effort goes into managing a claim, the importance of being there for your client and obviously the emotional time of being that one shining light when you hand over that cheque during a tough time for you and your client’s family.

Some help for you and your business during this period is valuable, so I thought it would be meaningful to share this service with you today. Feel free to give Bruno a call HERE. I have worked with Bruno for many years, he is working with many of the licensees we work with, knows our industry and would be a trusted partner.

Steve Holmes – Feedsy

About AFRM Claims Advocacy
Advisers have an important role to play in communicating to their clients that if they have experienced an injury or illness that has precluded them from working or impacted their clients quality of life.

Advisers are often reinforcing to clients that it is a good idea to contact them even if they have not experienced an injury or incident so that they can help clients better understand their insurance needs and claim process in case you ever need to make a claim.

Do you have clients unable to work due to injury or illness and who are entitled to an insurance claim? Are you tired of seeing them incur unnecessary legal fees for managing an insurance claim?

“Sometimes clients are almost frightened into using law firms to manage their insurance claims purely out of ignorance of the claims process,” Bruno Muraca, CEO of AFRM Claims Advocacy (ACA) said.

“I know from experience how frustrating it can sometimes be to see your client incurring unnecessary additional costs simply to handle their claim.”

“This is not surprising given the high levels of underinsurance across Australia and the significant proportion of Australians who still don’t have life insurance cover. Consumer education and support is the key and that is one of the primary reasons ACA was created.”

Mr Muraca said a guiding principle of ACA’s establishment was for it to serve as an additional resource for advisers and super fund trustees, to help improve clients’ level of insurance awareness and to provide claimant support – specifically to help consumers achieve a balance between the financial and health outcomes of their claim.

“At the outset, ACA helps people making a claim identify whether they indeed have a valid claim; then we help them complete the relevant paperwork and navigate all interactions with insurers (including gathering all relevant medical documentation), all the way through to the assessment and decision phase of a claim,” Mr Muraca said.

Mr Muraca said ACA’s service model is based upon AFRM’s years of experience achieving positive claims outcomes for clients. He said its flat fee for service model provides a cost effective claims management solution for clients.

He said it crucial to tackle the issue of educating consumers about insurance.

“Last year, in its Underinsurance in Australia 2017 report, Rice Warner claimed those levels had improved with 94 per cent of working Australians have some level of life cover and 81 per cent proportion of the working population with TPD insurance.”

“While levels of insurance awareness have improved in recent years thanks to consumer education efforts by organisations such as the Insurance Council of Australia and the Financial Services Council, I would doubt anyone in our business would disagree that we still a have a long way to go,” he said.

“It is not just raising awareness of ‘what is insurance’ (including an understanding of the different types of insurance available) but it’s about addressing a lack of awareness of what circumstances are covered by the different forms of insurance.

“I’m sure many advisers can recall a client meeting that uncovered a potential insurance claim that had not been actioned by clients. For example, a client tells their adviser; ‘I didn’t work last year for 8 weeks because I broke my leg’; yet they didn’t inform their adviser at the time of the injury or during the rehabilitation period.

“What is not commonly known is that under some policies it is possible to claim retrospectively, for example if the incident or injury happened 10 years ago it may be still possible to submit a claim. So for a scenario like the one outlined above, depending upon their policy, a client who has income protection could lodge a claim and have the insurer pay up to 75% of their income (salary) each month that they are not able to work. For someone on $85,000 a year, this could be approximately a $5,000 benefit per month. In addition, most insurers also support claimants with rehabilitation.”

Mr Muraca said ACA recognises that experiencing an incident serious enough to result in a claim is always a stressful time for everyone involved; not only through loss of income (not working for a period of time) but also the physical and emotional toll of being injured or ill.

General Advice Warning:
The information in this communication is provided for information purposes and is of a general nature only. It is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice or any other advice.